Concerns about Americans’ weak skills in math Associated Press: A threat to national security

By Reem Abdel Hamid

Tuesday, September 26, 2023 03:36 PM

According to the Associated Press, many Americans joke about how bad they are at math, and their already poor scores on standardized math tests continue to decline.

Employers say America needs math geniuses like animated movies need superheroes. They believe America’s poor performance in math is no laughing matter, but a threat to national security and global economic competitiveness.

Jim Stigler, a professor of psychology at the University of California who studies the teaching and learning process in subjects including mathematics, believes that the technological advances that will lead the world in the next fifty years will come from other countries. Capital that America does not have.

The U.S. Department of Defense has called for a major effort to support education in science, technology, education and math, or “STEM” for short. The number of graduates in these categories in China is eight times that of their counterparts in the United States, and the number of engineers in Russia is four times that of those in the United States, he said.

For his part, Aspen Research Institute Vice President Josh Weiner says the matter is not just an academic issue. Last July, he warned that other countries, particularly China, were challenging America’s technological dominance. He explained that mathematics is needed to solve the fundamental challenges faced in the present era.

On the other hand, the number of jobs in mathematical occupations, i.e. jobs that use the dream of arithmetic and use advanced methods to perform calculations, analyze data, and solve problems, will increase by more than 30,000 per year. In the current decade, that’s the fastest rate compared to any other type of job, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.